The Liberals and Nationals are back together and so are we for the last sitting week of the month. A lot happened this week and I'm certain there’s more to come this weekend.

Here’s the 5&5.

BEST

Doctor, doctor, give me the news
Delivering for regional communities
Backing modern Australia
Delivering on Closing the Gap
Less Sun Tzu more Machiavelli

WORST

Everything he touches turns to…custard?
Too busy arguing to do any work
Hold his chardonnay
On-alition or off-alition?
Angus Taylor

1. Thanks to the Albanese Labor Government’s historic investment into Medicare and all the work of Mark Butler, new data revealed that in just three months, the bulk billing rate for all Australians has jumped to 81.4 per cent nationwide. Dan Repacholi gave a great speech in the Chamber on why this matters. Listen here.

2. Kristy McBain has been on an absolute roll this fortnight. After being asked by her regional colleague Meryl Swanson about what we’re doing to improve local roads and infrastructure in regional communities, Kristy didn’t miss a beat. “I ask the other side to listen up, because you're about to get schooled in how we deal with regional communities!” Then on Wednesday with rumours floating around of Angus Taylor’s leadership challenge, Kristy somehow managed to top it. Talking about how important our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are, she said “So, if you have a nasty spill on your bike or in a party room, you can just pop over to your local urgent care clinic. They'll patch you up. They might pat you on the head. They'll say: 'Fantastic. Great move. Well done, insert name here.” Brilliant.

3. In Labor always backs workers, and Amanda Rishworth told the house this week the numbers back our record on wages. “New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that wages of workers covered by enterprise agreements have risen by an average of 9.6 per cent over two years. Under our government we've reached record high numbers of workers on enterprise agreements, and these workers are earning more.” This is good news for Australian workers and evidence that our reforms are delivering.

4. This week the Albanese Labor Government released the annual Closing the Gap report showing real progress for First Nations peoples across employment, housing, cost of living and health. As Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said, “Our investments in Closing the Gap are making a difference and in 2026 we are building on these successes.” On the eve of the 18th anniversary of the National Apology, the Prime Minister left us with an important reminder: “The Apology was an honest reckoning with our history. A call to action for our future and a profound act of patriotism, true to the best of our values.”

5. There’s been a lot of book talk since I told you about Andrew Hastie’s summer reading. On Tuesday, Tom French had a great recommendation to add to the Liberal backbench book club: “The Member for Canning—after raiding the member for Goldstein's library for The Art of War, might I suggest The Prince? It is at least a reminder that effective leadership is about governing well and not seeking to posture.”

1. No one was surprised when Angus Taylor announced he was quitting his job. However, last weekend Angus’ own colleagues gave reporters frank assessments of his past performances with language too unparliamentary to repeat. So in Question Time on Monday, Chris Bowen cleaned up the full quote for us in the chamber. ‘Everything the Member for Hume touches turns to *custard*. I've sanitised that. ‘He was a disastrous Energy Minister, he was a disastrous Shadow Treasurer and the definition of insanity will be to put someone with a disastrous track record into the top job, hoping things will be different’. That's not us. That's his side, talking about the Member for Hume. While they were debating each other’s track records, we’re focused on delivery: 225,531 Cheaper Home Batteries installed and 7.7 gigawatts of dispatchable power added to the grid.

2. The Liberals and the Nationals formed a committee in the Senate, which they were hoping the Prime Minister wouldn’t notice. So I’m sure they were surprised on Monday when the PM decided to share with the House the committee’s progress: “As sure as night follows day, an hour after Question Time last week Senator Bragg was up in the Sky News studio talking to Tom Connell. The transcript is worth reviewing and reporting to the House, because I wasn't aware of it.

Tom Connell asks: 'What have you found in the committee so far?'

Senator Bragg replies: 'Nothing. We haven't done any work yet.'

Tom Connell says: 'You haven't started?'

Senator Bragg: 'We've been on strike, no. We are going to do some work. No, we've been too busy talking about the internals of the Liberal Party to do any work.'”

As the PM said,“Nailed it in one!”.

3. Jim had a great one on Wednesday. When answering a question from Sarah Witty on the risks poised by Coalition’s economic plan, he didn’t miss the chance to point to Angus Taylor’s record: “In every portfolio that he's held, he's failed badly and he's failed upwards. The worse he performs, the more entitled he feels to a promotion, no matter what happens. At every stage of his life, he wants everything handed to him on a silver platter, he reminds me of a famous saying. The Member for Hume was born with a silver foot in his mouth! Just when we thought that they couldn't go any lower on economic credibility, the Member for Hume says, 'Hold my chardonnay.’

4. Well after a few weeks apart the Liberals and Nationals decided to get back together again. Matt Burnell had a great one on Monday, “After the greatest public display of chucking the toys out of the cot, the Nats are back with the Libs. The Coalition, the 'on-alition', the 'off-alition', the 'I-don't-know-what-alition'—same chaos, new week.”

5. You may have heard that Angus Taylor quit the Coalition front bench on Wednesday night to make a play for Leader of the Opposition. The architect of Liberal policies for higher taxes, bigger deficits, more debt, getting rid of work from home, sacking of tens of thousands of frontline workers and a $600 billion taxpayer funded nuclear scheme. Angus Taylor from day one he has worked to undermine the Liberals first female leader. By the time you read this, you’ll know what happens next.

That’s all for this fortnight, we’ll be back in March with another three sitting weeks for both the House and the Senate.

‘til then,

Tony

PS. Angus Taylor’s strategy over the last fortnight in Parliament has been to say nothing.Every Question Time went through without him saying a word. In honour of this strategy, the song of the week is ‘When you say nothing at all’ by Ronan Keating.

5&5: Everything he touches turns to...